Darrers Stores was a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

and

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

brand with outlets in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

Tramore Tramore (; ) is a seaside town in County Waterford, on the southeast coast of Ireland. It has a population of 11,277 as per the 2022 census, the second largest town in the county. Overview Originally a small fishing village, the area saw rapi ...

and

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

, in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The chain operated as both a grocers and

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

s, and is believed to be one of the first Irish stores to introduce a free

plastic shopping bag In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s, shopping bags made from various kinds of plastic, are variously called plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags. They are sometimes referred to as single-use bags—referring to c ...

History

William Desmond "Des" Darrer first opened a store in partnership with Ben Dunne in Cork known as

Dunnes Stores Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. It was founded by Ben Dunne (businessman, born 1908), Ben Dunne in 1944. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain al ...

in 1944. The first branch of what went on to be Darrers was opened in Waterford by Darrer and Dunne, under the name Dunnes Stores, on 8 August 1946 on Cathedral Street. The partnership between Dunne and Darrer was dissolved in 1952, with Darrer becoming the sole owner of the Waterford store, which was then re-named Darrers. Another Waterford branch was later opened on George's Street in the late 1960s. A site known as Hennebry's Yard was purchased and incorporated into the retail space, which at its height occupied 40,000 square feet over 3 floors. The Carlow store was opened on 19 November 1965, with Brendan Darrer as the manager. Brendan took over from his father managing the Waterford store after his death in 1967. Michael Darrer ran the Tramore branch of the chain. Both the Dungarvan and Tramore stores pioneered home delivery service and were the first local businesses to introduce late night shopping, remaining open until 9pm. The stores in Dungarvan and

closed in 2007 when the company was dissolved in June that year. It followed the closure of the

store in 1995. Darrers was reputedly one of the first stores to introduce the concept of a free plastic shopping bag. In some parts of Waterford and Carlow, "Darrers Bag" became a synonym for "plastic shopping bag", and retained meme status following the store's closure.

References

External links

Forum thread about Darrers
Defunct retail companies Department stores of Ireland Clothing retailers of Ireland Supermarkets of the Republic of Ireland Dungarvan Retail companies of Ireland {{supermarket-stub